Clarity
by 2x the awesomes
Summary: A fanfiction centering around Iggy in his attempts to resist his love for Max. Inspired by the song Clarity, hence the title. Miggy, possibly. No wings.
1. Chapter 1

**Hellooooo everyone! Thanks for reading my story! I'm kinda nervous as I have never written any story other than Adventure Time fanfics, but there's a first time for everything I guess! This is just an idea I had a while back, thought I'd write a bit more of it and try it out on fanfiction! On with the story!**

I watched her with him. Their fingers were interlocked, her hair was down her back, just how I thought it looked best, and she was smiling at him. A soft, gentle smile filled with love and happiness. I quickly ducked into a nearby store before she could see me, but it was too late.

"Iggy!" She waved to me, and I groaned inwardly.

"Max," I smiled at her, and then turned to her boyfriend, and my smile dropped. "And Dylan." I nodded to him, not wanting to ruin things for her. If it was just Dylan, I would ruin his date every time, but I couldn't bear to see Max in pain. Physical or emotional.

"You didn't tell me you were coming to the mall." She smiled at me, that gorgeous, perfect smile that I had come to love more than anything.

"I wasn't planning on it, but I had nothing else to do." Dylan grinned at me. I wished he wasn't so nice to me. If he acted like he didn't like me then I would have an excuse to be discourteous to him.

"Why don't you come with us?" I felt like raising my eyebrows, but kept a neutral expression. Seriously, I would rather die of boredom at home than go shopping with the two lovers. If it was just with Max it would be fine, but I couldn't bear it when they made goo goo eyes at each other. It made me desperate to snatch my Max away from him.

I'd been best friends with Max since before I can remember, and loved her for the past seven years, ever since I was ten. I mean, you might have thought that I'd have given up and chosen another girl, but every time I tried dating someone else I would see Max and know that she was the only girl for me.

"No thanks," I declined Dylan's offer. "I promised my mum that I'd babysit Gaz and Ange this afternoon." Well, that wasn't entirely a lie. I had promised her I'd babysit them…in half an hour. Max's face fell.

"Well, I'll see you around, Igs." She and Dylan left, hand in hand, leaving me alone in the shop isle.

I walked out of the store, oblivious to what was going on around me. I was always like this after I'd bumped into Dylan and Max. I got so lost in thought that the world could have ended and I wouldn't have noticed.

When I got home I flopped on my bed, my arms over my eyes. Why did life have to be so unfair? Why couldn't Max just love me back? I joked around with her about me being so extremely cute and her having an undying love for me, but recently joking like that just became painful, but I still had too so that she wouldn't suspect anything.

"Iggy?" I heard a sweet little voice ask from the doorway. I uncovered my eyes and sat up slightly to see my six year old sister looking at me with her big blue eyes. "Are you ok?" I smiled sadly, and spread my arms apart. She ran into them, and I hugged her before she sat beside me on the bed.

"Iggy's just having a hard time right now, sweetie." Why whenever I started talking to my youngest sibling did I start talking about myself in third person?

Angel looked at me worriedly.

"It's about Max, isn't it?" I swear she could read minds. It got creepy sometimes. I pulled her onto my lap, and made a pouty face.

"Yeah." Angel copied my pouty face.

"I don't want you to be sad, Iggy!" she threw her little six year old arms around my neck.

"Nah, it's not fun." I flopped backwards, and she lay down on my chest, her blue eyes peering down intently at me.

"She loves you, you know." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"She loves Dylan, Ange." Angel rested her chin on her folded arms.

"She does, sort of, but she loves you more. She just doesn't know yet."

"It won't make a difference. She's completely besotted with Dylan; she wouldn't ditch him for anything."

"Maybe if you told her you loved her it would make a difference."

"Whoever said I loved Max?" I defended. Angel gave me that little knowing smile of hers that she always uses to tell me that she knows exactly what's going on in my brain, and hopped off my bed. She skipped out of my room, humming humpty dumpty. I sighed. I wasn't going to tell Max about my feelings for her just because of something a six year old had said. I wasn't going to risk our friendship.

I read for about 20 minutes, and then my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I pulled it out to read the text.

Maxithewinged: Hey, wassup?

Iggarooni: Not much, y?

Maxithewinged: I've come home from da mall wondered if u wanted some help babysittin?

Iggarooni: Sure, come right over.

I heard mum start her car, and drive off, leaving me alone with Gaz and Angel. I walked downstairs, and sat on the couch, waiting for Max to come.

MAX

I quickly got changed into a more comfortable outfit, and headed over to Ig's house. I wished he could have hung out with me and Dylan at the mall earlier, but lately he'd seemed to be avoiding me whenever I was with Dylan. Including when we were at school. I really missed him, and wished he would just tell me what was up with him. He was my best friend, we were meant to be able to talk about things like that together.

I knocked at his door, and a few seconds later he opened it, a goofy grin on his face.

"'Sup, Maxi?" I scowled.

"The name's Max, Ig." He copied my expression.

"The name's Ignatius, Max." He said in a bad impression of my voice, making me laugh.

"You idiot." I said, punching him lightly on the arm.

"You dork." He said, punching me back.

"You jerk, you shouldn't hit girls," I made a hurt face. "And you shouldn't call people names." He laughed.

"Says the girl who insults me more than she uses my actual name." I grinned.

"You weirdo, I'm not that bad."

IGGY

My heart ached when she grinned at me like that. She was just so perfect, in every way. Ok, well she did have her flaws, but when she was around me she just seemed to be an angel. She was just everything I loved, even her imperfections made her more perfect.

"So, where are Gaz and Ange?" she said. I shrugged, and she walked into the house calling their names.

My little brother, Gazzy (don't ask), ran over to her. His blond hair was tousled, and his hand clutched a little toy of a winged boy that looked like him. We had found in a tiny shop hidden on a small street in the middle of town. We were lost, and so went in to ask for directions, but while I was speaking to the man behind the counter, Gaz, who was four at the time, explored the stuffy shop and found the toy. A little boy with blond hair, blue eyes and big brown wings.

"Hey, Gaz!" Max bent down to his height. "High five, low five, scuba dive!" They went through their simple handshake. I grinned. Max was like a sister to Gaz and Ange.

"Max!" I saw a blond blur and Ange raced up to Max and threw her tiny arms around her. Over Max's shoulder Angel threw me a pointed glance, and I rolled my eyes.

"Hi, Angel. I've missed you to!" Max kissed Angel on the cheek before setting her down.

"Iggy, Iggy, Iggy can we pleeeeeeeease watch T.V? Pleeeeeeeease?!" I rolled my eyes at Gazzy, and nodded. The two squealed in excitement and both grabbed one of Max's hands to drag her into the living room. I sighed, but smiled.

"I'll go make popcorn while you two pic a movie."

"'K!" said Angel.

I went into the kitchen and poured some popcorn into the machine. After a few minutes it was done, and I poured some melted butter over it. I grabbed a handful, and shoved it into my mouth as I walked into the living room.

Gaz and Ange had chosen to watch How to Train Your Dragon, their favourite movie. The first time we watched it Angel had cried when we told her she couldn't have a 'Toothless' as a pet. They sat on their beanbags, and I flopped onto the couch next to Max, and continued shoving popcorn into my mouth.

"Greedy guts." Max said teasingly.

"Chefs privilege." I said, causing her to laugh.

"I doubt making popcorn qualifies you as a chef, Ig." I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. You want some?" Max groaned.

"I can't be bothered moving my arms." I laughed, and shook my head at her.

"I guess there's no popcorn for you, then." Max pouted, and opened her mouth wide. I laughed, and chucked a piece of popcorn into it.

"Good shot." She mumbled through the popcorn.

"Iggggggyyyyyyy, don't eat all the popcorn!" Whined Gazzy. I handed them the bowl, and they shoved their hands into it. Grabbing giant handfuls they shoved them in, almost making themselves choke.

"And you call me greedy." I murmured to Max, and she laughed lightly.

Casually, I lifted my arm and rested it on the back of the couch. It wasn't exactly around her shoulders, but it was good enough.

Max twisted herself so her legs were resting on the sofa, and rested her head on my lap. I smirked down at her.

"Would Dylan approve?" I whispered so as not to distract the children from the movie. Max wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at me.

"You make a good pillow, that's all." I grinned.

"So is my job description as your best friend just to be a pillow and make popcorn?" Max thought for a moment.

"No. You have to make me your burritos or else I wouldn't see any point in living anymore." I shook my head theatrically.

"And where would we all be without the great Maximum Ride?" She grinned.

"Exactly! I'm glad we have the same view, Iggy."

We watched the movie for a little, before Max's phone buzzed. She pulled it out and checked it. Her brow furrowed.

"What's up?" I asked.

"It's Dylan," I rolled my eyes. "He seems really ticked off for some reason." She texted a reply to something he had said.

"What's he saying?" I asked after a few minutes. Max handed me the phone so I could read it. Her eyes were wide.

Dylan: I can't believe you, Max?

Maxthewinged: What did I do now!

Dylan: You know very well what you did!

Maxthewinged: No, Dylan, I don't.

Dylan: I saw the picture.

Maxthewinged: What picture?

Dylan: This one.

My eyes shot open when I saw the picture. It was a picture of me and Max…kissing. Like, proper, full on, on the lips kissing.

Maxthewinged: Oh my gosh, Dylan, I don't know who took that picture or where it came from but that is most definitely not me and Iggy.

Dylan: Sure it's not

Maxthewinged: Dylan, seriously, would I cheat one you?

Dylan: Until now I didn't think you would.

Maxthewinged: Dyls, you've got to believe me!

Dylan: Why, so we can go back to dating and then you can just go and break my heart again?

I stared at Max.

"He really thinks that's me and you?" She nodded.

"I don't know what happened but someone's made a picture that looks a lot like us. And they've used it against me."

I stroked her hair comfortingly as she started to cry slightly. Then something happened that totally ruined everything again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the flash of a camera through the window. Max noticed it too and we both jumped to our feet. The kids stared at us as we ran to the door, flung open it and ran after whoever took the photo.

I thought I caught a glance of red hair as the person ran around the corner, but it was getting dark so I couldn't be sure.

"Max," I said as she caught up to me. "I think someone is trying to make Dylan break up with you."

**So, what'cha think? Like it, hate it? Let me know. I want to know if I should continue this story or not, I kinda like it, but ya know I want something that you guys will like too. **

**Anyways, 2x out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, so here is another chapter! I hope you like it, I enjoyed writing it, so yea.**

Back inside Max sat at the table with me while the kids continued watching the movie. I didn't say anything, just stared at my clasped hands. Max drummed her knuckles constantly on the table, and every ten seconds snatched up her phone to check it. After a few minutes of this, I was the first one to speak.

"Hey, Max, don't you think you'd better be getting home? It's getting kinda dark and you don't want your mum to worry," Max just shrugged, and picked up her phone to check it again. "I'll drive you if you want." (A/N I am not American and have never lived there so if a 17 year old cannot drive without an adult, sorry! I really have no idea what the road laws are over there.)

"I don't really want to be away from you," She kept her eyes on her phone. "It's nice having someone here for me."

"Do you wanna ask your mom if you can stay over at Ella's? Her parents are away, so I could come too. Heck we could even invite the whole Flock if you wanted, get you mind off this whole Dylan thing." Max smiled up at me.

"Good idea, Igs. I'll ask her. I do kinda need something to take my mind off of this. It's driving me crazy." She took her phone and dialled in her mom's (A/N arg! Feels so wrong saying it like that…it should be mum…) number.

"Hey mom?" Max chewed her lip a little.

"Yeah, I know it's late. No, I'm still at Iggy's. I was wondering if I could go to a sleepover at Ells? I know. Yeah, Iggy can do it. Yes, I'm sure. Maybe Nudge. Ok. Love you too. Bye mom," I raised my eyebrows at her. "She said I can go. Oh, and you're gonna swing round my house to pick up my stuff." I rolled my eyes.

"What am I, your slave?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I laughed, and Max smiled. I was relieved that she was joking around again. Hopefully she didn't think about Dylan too much, not only for my sake, but for hers as well.

I left the kids with Max long enough to get her clothes and stuff, and when I returned the house was still standing, and there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with it. I inspected the walls, ceiling and floors as I entered, and relaxed when there didn't seem to be any stains, cracks or globs of overcook pasta stuck in odd places. If you think I'm being way too paranoid… well it's obvious you've never met Maximum Ride.

Max came downstairs with Gazzy and Angel who were in their pajama's. I called our usual babysitter, Brittany, and asked if she come over and take care of them for a while. I handed Max her bag, and then went upstairs to pack my own. While I was up there throwing random, probably un-needed items into a bag, I texted my mum to tell her where I was going.

I came downstairs and Max and I went next door and knocked on the door. A slim, Hispanic girl wearing pajama's opened it. Her eyes widened when she saw us.

"Hi Ella," said Max. "Can we spend the night?" Ella barely had time to nod before Max grinned and clapped her on the shoulder. "Thanks." she walked inside and sat down on the couch. Ella laughed slightly and shook her head.

"I suppose you're going to invite the whole Flock as well?"

"Yep, you guessed it, Ells." Max pulled out her phone and began texting the various members of the Flock.

If you're wondering what the Flock is, it's this small group of us at school who stick together and literally don't care about anything except each other. We don't care about getting detention, making enemies or getting into fights. People are either terrified of us, are the rare friends of us, or are our sworn enemies, basically meaning we beat them up at any opportunity. And they try to beat us up and fail dismally.

The Flock was started by me, Max and a boy named Omega. We were best friends and formed this group when we were seven. Eventually, we let Max's two other best friends, Ella and Monique (known more commonly as Nudge) into the Flock. Then, when we were fourteen, Omega had to move away, and a boy named Ari joined. Ari had been an enemy of the Flock at first, but after a long time of fighting him, we grew to have a mutual respect for one another, and he just became part of it.

The newest member of the Flock was a boy called Nick (we called him Fang). He transferred from another school and stubbornly sat with us and hung out with us until we decided that he could become a member. I think Max had been the only one who was actually opposed to Fang joining, but if there's one thing I've learnt in life, it's to never cross Maximum Ride.

Before long, the doorbell started ringing, and Ella opened it to Ari and Fang.

"Fili." Said Ari.

"Kili." Said Fang.

"At your service." They said in unison, and bowed down to Ella. Ella laughed a shook her head.

"You idiots," the two boys stood up grinning. "Max and Iggy are through there." The two boys started to walk down the hall, but not before Ari handed Ella his backpack.

"Careful with these," He said in an imitation of Fili's voice. "I just had them sharpened." (A/N if you cannot tell, I am on a Hobbit craze at the minute.) Ella rolled her eyes and threw the backpack at Ari's retreating back.

"We carry our own baggage in this house, master dwarf," I laughed when she said that, due to the fact that Ari is a little over six feet tall. "Now enough with the Hobbit quotes."

Ari came into the living room and I clapped him on the shoulder.

"Fili, come help us." I said with a Scottish accent.

"Master Dwalin!" He said.

"I thought I said enough with the Hobbit quotes!" Ella yelled, opening the door to Nudge.

"We didn't listen to you!" Ari yelled back.

"Well that much is obvious," Ella muttered, coming back into the living room with Nudge walking behind her. "So, what do you wanna do? And why are you even here in the first place?" I jumped over the back of the couch and slung my arm around Max's shoulders. In any other situation, people might have thought that I was trying to make a move on Max, but with the Flock they knew that we were just friends, no matter what we acted like. Although I wish it was different…

"Maxi here is having a little boy trouble." I had barely finished my sentence before Ella and Nudge were both kneeling in front of Max with deeply troubled expressions.

"ZOMG girl, why didn't you tell us?"

"It only happened, like, forty minutes ago…"

"That's no excuse! What exactly happened?"

"Ells…"

"No, Ella's right! Tell us _exactly _what happened!" I could tell Max felt a little awkward so I stepped in for her. Again.

"Someone photoshopped an image of us Frenching and sent it to Dylan." The girl's eyes went wide and they stared at Max.

"Are you kidding, Igs?" Nudge said. Max shook her head.

"Oh my gosh who would do that?" Ella looked like she couldn't believe it.

"I don't know…" Max shifted uncomfortably. "Look, can we just please stop talking about this? I wanted to have a sleepover so that I could take my mind off things, not talk about them more!" Ella and Nudge looked like they still wanted to talk about it.

"Max is right," I said before they could speak. "Isn't there anything we can do other than talk about Max's relationship struggles?"

"Well, I did bring Just Dance." Nudge suggested, and immediately everyone in the room brightened.

MAX

Iggy was right, the sleepover idea did help take my mind off everything that was going on with Dylan. The Just Dance was especially great; nothing quite takes boyfriend troubles off your mind like watching two seventeen year olds, Iggy and Ari to be exact, having a dance battle to Hot 'n' Cold by Katy Perry. Eventually they stopped caring about copying the moves that were shown on screen and just flailed around like dying seagulls. When the song ended they both watched eagerly to see who won.

"Yes!" Iggy yelled when his name came up. "I am the dance king! I rule all dance!" Ari rolled his eyes and we started laughing. Iggy put on an over exaggerated lordly expression.

"You shall all bow down to the king of dance!" I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my chair.

"And how should we serve you, oh great king?" I asked. Iggy grinned at me, and pulled me up so that I was standing next to him.

"And you shall be my queen of dance!" He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him, looking off into the distance. "We shall dance for the rest of our lives with people admiring our epic awesome-sauce dance skills." I laughed and pushed him away.

"You idiot."

IGGY

To be honest with you, I was quite surprised and sad when she pushed me away. Though it might seem normal and perfectly ordinary to the normal person, I had been friends with Max since birth and she had never, and I mean never, pushed me away before without a good reason. Normally she would have played along with the role of being my dance queen, but no. What was going on with her?

I sat on the sofa and continued watching the others play Just Dance. Well, I pretended I was watching but I was actually thinking about reasons why she had pushed me away. I know, I know, I'm paranoid but when it comes to Max I don't care how paranoid I am. I would legit die if I lost her.

Was she still thinking about that photoshopped image? Was she scared that something like that would actually happen? She needn't be, she knows she can trust me. But what if she doesn't trust me anymore? What if that photo and Dylan being mad at her meant that she was totally freaked out at being around me?

I looked over at Max who was currently dancing with Fang. I wish I knew what was going on. I was seriously freaking out right now. And, if this was how bad she was when Dylan was just mad at her, what would she be like if he broke up with her because of it? (A/N I know Igs is over reacting but he's in love. And this is just the kind of character I want him to be lol. A bit of an idiot who always over reacts) If Dylan broke up with her because of me she would never speak to me again! And I would crawl into a little hole and die in misery and lonely-ness.

Max finished her dance battle and came and sat down next to me, though she wasn't as close to me as she'd usually sit. We didn't really talk again until Max went to brush her teeth in the bathroom. Everyone else was getting ready, so I quietly went to where she was standing by the sink. She'd left the door open as usual and I leant against the doorframe. She noticed me and spat out her toothpaste.

"Hey Igs."

"Hi." Max flipped her head over and gathered it into a high pony.

"Pass me a hair elastic, can you?" I grabbed one from beside the sink and handed it to her.

"Max, what's wrong?" She fastened her hair back and stood up.

"Nothing's wrong, why?"

"You pushed me away. And you've been acting awkward around me." Max laughed, but it sounded fake and she wouldn't look at me.

"I haven't been acting awkward…" I rolled my eyes.

"Max, you know you can't lie to me. Are you scared that something might happen between us and Dylan breaks up with you?" Max shook her head.

"No." I groaned and covered my eyes with one hand.

"Gosh, you're so stubborn! Just say what the problem is. Please." Max groaned loudly.

"Fine. You like me, don't you?" Her question caught me off guard, and I froze for a moment before speaking.

"What?" She turned to me, her eyes full of mixed emotions.

"You like me. As more than a friend," I shook my head slightly, but she saw through me. I was as hopeless at lying to Max as she was to me. "I've known for a while. I didn't say anything because… I didn't know what to say." I looked down and Max turned back to the mirror.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it." She shrugged.

"No. Don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was scared, and so I always brushed it off, telling myself I was wrong."

"And then Dylan came along." I muttered. Max rolled her eyes.

"He's a good guy, Igs, really. I just…"

"You what?"

"I kinda only like him as a friend. I mean, I used to like him, and I still do, but not in that way. I don't know why, before you asked. I just do," I didn't say anything. Max groaned again, and turned to me, tears in her eyes. "You want to know the real reason I didn't tell you I knew? Because I knew it would make it awkward."

"Max, nothing has to change. I'm still me, you know that." Max shook her head.

"Everything's changed, Ig. I wish I could pretend otherwise, but I can't."


End file.
